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If your take is the truth, Wallace needed to just be happy to do what he can to bring wins. He didn't. He pouted and held out, letting Brown shine. The attitude is the problem, which is further hurt by dropping passes and not fighting for the ball.

To be fair- Wallace didn't 'hold out'- he never signed his RFA tender, so he was, effectively, not under contract. And that is pretty standard practice for guys wanting to secure a 'bigger deal'. If he'd gone to Camp, and gotten hurt- then what?

Also, Wallace has never publicly complained about anything. His 'moaning & whining' is the stuff of legend, perpetuated by the media who could never actually quote anything from him, and by messege boards that progressively got more worked up over a phantom report that Wallace wanted "Top 10 WR money".

In fact, the only factual quote we got from Wallace in regard to that is when he tweeted "Don't believe everything you read in the media".

He also 'tweeted' his congrats to Antonio Brown after Brown got his contract.

Now, granted- he didn't look like the Mike Wallace of the previous couple of seasons through 2012- but neither did guys that don't receive anywhere near the critisism of Wallace- guys like Antonio Brown, for example.

Chadman is going to be painted with the "Wallace lover" tag for the arguments he puts up, and that's ok. But Wallace had more TD's, more yards & a greater body of work than Brown- every year. If Brown is 'worth' $42 million, Wallace is worth more. Brown got his contract signed within days of Wallace rejecting an offer from the Steelers- yet at the time, word was both sides were close to a resolution. When Brown got paid, negotiations with Wallace fell apart. Chadman has called this the 'tit-for-tat' signing in the past- and will again. The Steelers FO (Read- Rooney) got their nose out of joint after Wallace knocked back another offer, and immediately over reacted & extended Brown (who would only be a RFA, not UFA the next season) to what was reported to be similar money to what they offered Wallace.

The result was, the Steelers overpaid Brown (Chadman likes Brown- really!) a year early (RFA in 2013..) & condemned Wallace (UFA 2013) to moving on, as funds, as we can see, are tight. For their investment, the Steelers got a WR (Brown) who couldn't live up to his 1 year success & was outperformed by the 'malcontenant' in Wallace, despite Wallace only 'going through the motions'.

It's ok, Brown's 780 yards as the #1 WR will be all that's required next season for the Steelers to make the playoffs....

Starting to think we are reading the same article, but getting a different understanding of it..

So, to clarify where we stand on this, Chadman's understanding is that:

A- Brown steps in for Ward into the X position, Wallace was in the Z.
B- Brown doesn't understand the routes of the X position, so Wallace & Brown swap- Wallace moves from Z to X.
C- Brown shines in Z position, a la Wallace, Wallace's numbers drop as a result of different routes.
D- Wallace is unhappy about this because he's in his contract year- lower production = lower pay.
E- Wallace doesn't get offered the money he wants, Brown gets healthy pay increase.
F- Wallace & Brown swap back responsibilities this season- Brown is now statistically inferior to Wallace again.

Is that how everyone read that article?

If so- Chadman can understand the frustration.

This is correct, I might not have the position correct because I was listening while driving but I'm pretty sure it w

Let's take a page out of Carnell Lake's professionalism playbook shall we... drafted from UCLA having played LB, became a ProBowl SS for his team then asked to swtch to CB to tandem with Rod Woodson.... if these reports are accurate Wallace wasn't asked to switch to TE or RB.... nope... just asked to play WR, do his job and help this team get some wins.

If you are going to use the position switch to justify Mike Wallace's poor second half in 2011, you can't use the same position switch as a weapon to go after Antonio Brown in 2012...

It absolutely makes no sense whatsoever...

To clarify- not using the position switch to 'go after Brown'- at least, not so far as performance goes.

But Wallace was 'attacked', if you like, for 'not knowing all the routes, including the TE's', when in fact, it was Brown that didn't know the routes. That is on Brown, yet Wallace copped the blame, earlier in this thread (Was it Bradshaw? Think so..)

But that is pretty synonymous with what has happened all season. Wallace drops a catch- he's a bum. Brown fumbles, at least he's trying. Wallace demands more than what the Steelers offer- he's a greedy so-and-so & no WR is worth that unless they can leap threw hoops, backwars, while on fire, with their helmet coming off- and still catch it. Brown gets paid $42 million- it's a bargain...

Now- Brown doesn't know the routes, Wallace moves to accomodate that, he gets upset because the result is that his personal stats go down in a contract year- and Wallace cops the blame.

It's ok- Chadman understands that Brown is favoured while Wallace is Satan's offspring. Chadman will be glad to run that bum out of town..

Let's take a page out of Carnell Lake's professionalism playbook shall we... drafted from UCLA having played LB, became a ProBowl SS for his team then asked to swtch to CB to tandem with Rod Woodson.... if these reports are accurate Wallace wasn't asked to switch to TE or RB.... nope... just asked to play WR, do his job and help this team get some wins.

Anyone who turns down a contract while pouting and losing focus will get demonized over the hard worker.... even if the hard worker doesn't know all the routes or received a pay raise.

I definitely think Wallace is unfairly criticized on here but oh well... he isn't the first nor the last to be in this position. Timmons, Woodley, Troy, etc... anyone who gets a big payday or wants a big payday ends up under a microscope.

"Last season, Wallace only proved that he isn't worth a contract more than Brown's...

Now, whether or not the Steelers overpaid Brown is a completely separate issue altogether..."

See- this is actually Chadman's point. Wallace's "Top 10 WR Money" claim is, admittedly, hard to support based on the back-end of 2011. But that is half a season, it's a sample of a greater body of work. The 'anti-Wallace' crowd will use that as the reason he can't justify being a top earner.

OK, fair enough.

But if that is the case (not disputing that, right now), then Antonio Brown was supremely overpaid for the same sample of work. Brown really only 'blossomed' as a WR the 2nd half of 2011. He was very, very good. But that was the sum total of his success.

Wallace has 3 years of success to back up his claim of being worth more than Brown.

Now, while it might not be the most 'professional' behaviour, is it at least understandable that he'd be a little put out that half-a-season Brown got paid roughly what the Steelers reportedly had offered Wallace?

And if Wallace did, indeed, make the move from Z to X WR, and the routes didn't allow Wallace to do what he does best- which is go deep, in order to assist Antonio Brown- who didn't know the routes, as this article suggests.... then when Brown got 'paid' for that production, and Wallace was told by the FO he wasn't worth more than Brown (paraphrasing, obviously..), then wouldn't you also question the personal value of helping another player, and the team, out?